RJ Jain: entrepreneur and champion of student research

RJ Jain, founder and CEO/CTO of the high-growth direct-to-consumer company Price.com, launched his first startup while studying computer engineering at the University of Michigan—despite never having taken a course in entrepreneurship. As an undergraduate, he was also actively involved in research. His belief in the transformative power of both innovation and inquiry to drive positive change continues to inspire his support and engagement.

In the area of research, he has been helping jumpstart programs at Michigan that offer undergraduate students the thrill and challenge of research. His recent sponsorship of the Program for Undergraduate REsearch–Electrical and Computer Engineering (PURE-ECE) ensured its launch for the Fall term of 2024.

“Research can impact billions of people’s lives,” said Jain. “Advancing research is the fastest and best way to have a positive impact on people’s lives.” 

Jain learned of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s desire to expand research opportunities for undergraduate students after joining the ECE Council in the summer of 2024. The PURE-ECE initiative meshed perfectly with his own passion for independent research. 

I would like to give a huge thank you for opening up this opportunity.

Naman Kabra, UG student

PURE-ECE is a year-long program where students can earn academic credit as they become immersed in research conducted by a faculty member and their group. Students in the program presented their work at the first annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 23, 2025.

With the first year having come to a close, we got a glimpse into the impact of the program from the students themselves.

“I’ve been telling a lot of my friends about it [PURE-ECE], especially those who are younger than me,” said Naman Kabra, who worked on an organic semiconductor used in OLEDs with Prof. Chris Giebink. “I would like to give a huge thank you for opening up this opportunity. I don’t think I would have explored research if it wasn’t for this program. I think this program should go on for a long time because it really benefits students and helps them explore areas other than their classes.”

Musabbiha Zaheer said she is “grateful for the experience. It was a very meaningful project and it opened up a lot of crucial experiences. I got to write papers, and I’m going to present the research at a symposium.” Zaheer worked with Prof. Cindy Finelli’s group on a project that aimed to improve classroom teaching practices for students with ADHD.

And for Priam Alataris, PURE-ECE “opened the door to be prepared for graduate studies. I also got a summer opportunity to continue doing research at U-M. So – thank you!” Alataris worked with Prof. Lei Ying on a system implementation of a resource allocation algorithm for edge networks.

Jain himself experienced the thrill of research while working on a project focused on anti-spam software with Prof. Atul Prakash, who now serves as the Richard H. Orenstein Division Chair of Computer Science and Engineering.

“Even then, he showed his knack for thinking out of the box and a desire to become an entrepreneur,” said Prakash. 

Jain’s first company, launched while he was still a student, was a search engine designed to help his fellow students find relevant resources available to them at Michigan. For example, a student could ask, “What kind of companies are coming to the Career Fair?” The app was called Gobluelink. 

“One of my favorite memories from Michigan was starting this app and having students find it valuable, and thanking me for creating it,” recalled Jain. “I became who I am because of Michigan. Seeing how my app could impact people’s lives was very rewarding.”

In 2012, Jain co-founded his second company, Appurify. The company pioneered on-device debugging, and was successful enough to be acquired by Google in 2014. Before and after Appurify, Jain was a Senior Engineer at the video game company Zynga, and Director of Engineering at the ridesharing company Sidecar Technologies. 

Advancing research is the fastest and best way to have a positive impact on people’s lives.

RJ Jain

After spending several years building the platform, Jain launched Price.com in 2022 and currently serves as both CEO and CTO. The company helps consumers maximize savings across a wide range of everyday purchases.

Jain is always on the lookout for creative and technological endeavors that he believes in, and he has become a bit of a philanthropist along the way. 

He was an executive producer and former board member of Kiss the Ground, a film about soil regeneration. The film was released on Netflix in 2020, and was streamed globally on Earth Day, April 22, 2025. He supported the Research Experience Development Program in the School of Information. And finally, Jain has personally invested in more than 10 young companies, mainly in the AI and data science space. 

With his contribution to the PURE-ECE program, Jain helped launch a program that has provided transformative experiences for 19 students this past year, and countless more in the future.

“ECE deeply appreciates RJ’s generous gift that led to the launching of this new and successful program called PURE-ECE,” said Dennis Sylvester, Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and incoming Department Chair. “I look forward to working with him more closely in the coming years.”